Identification and comparative analysis of novel alternatively spliced transcripts of RhoGEF domain encoding gene in C. elegans and C. briggsae

Y95B8A.12 gene of C. elegans encodes RhoGEF domain, which is a novel module in the Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Alternative splicing increases transcriptome and proteome diversification. Y95B8A.12 gene has two reported alternatively spliced transcripts by the C. elegans genome sequencing consortium. In the work presented here, we report the presence of four new spliced transcripts of Y95B8A.12 arising as a result of alternative splicing in the pre-mRNA encoded by Y95B8A.12 gene. Our methodology involved the use of various gene or exon finding programmes and several other bioinformatics tools followed by experimental validation. We have also studied alternative splicing pattern in RhoGEF domain encoding orthologues gene from C. briggsae and have obtained very similar results. These new unreported spliced transcripts, which were not detected through conventional approaches, not only point towards the extent of alternative splicing in C. elegans genes but also emphasize towards the need of analyzing genome data using a combinations of bioinformatics tools to delineate all possible gene products.